Reviews with content warning for Pregnancy - Amazing Grace Adams

Grace Adams is having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. Her husband has left her. Her beloved daughter, Lotte, has chosen to live with her father and won’t speak to her. She has lost both of her jobs. Today is Lotte’s 16th birthday, and Grace has one goal: to make it to Lotte’s birthday party and deliver the Love Island cake she specially ordered for her in the hopes of healing the rift between them. Stuck in traffic in London, Grace is late to pick up the cake. When she suddenly can’t take it any longer, she gets out of her car and walks to the bakery. As she makes her way across London, with some unusual and interesting encounters, Grace flashes back to the pivotal times in her life that have led her to this very moment. Her story is gradually revealed, beginning with the early days of her relationship with her husband, Ben, and leading up to the falling out with Lotte. How did the once amazing Grace Adams get to this point?

Compared to the likes of Eleanor, Rosie, Ove, and Bernadette, I was expecting a lighthearted comedy, but what I got was a gripping, emotional story about joy, love, grief, and hope. Yes, there were some very funny moments, but this novel was incredibly moving and, at times, heartbreaking. I found myself laughing out loud and also wiping away tears. This was an unforgettable read that had me captivated until the very end. Just a beautiful debut novel.

Thank you to NetGalley and Henry Holt & Company for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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raincityreads's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad medium-paced

3.0

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laheath's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book was not what I expected, but so much more! It rotates among three time periods, 20+ years ago when Grace met her husband, 4 months ago when her life really took a downward turn, and present time when Grace is simply trying to get a cake to her daughter's 16th birthday party. Surprisingly, it wasn't difficult at all to keep up with the different time periods. It began as a familiar story of a middle-aged, perimenopausal woman who decided she was fed up with the everyday nuisances of her life, i.e., the things women are expected to put up with, and instead was going to take action rather than tolerate them anymore. There are several funny anecdotes about her standing up for herself, but as the story continues, it becomes more serious, and heartbreaking in ways that any mother could imagine. She learns more about herself and her family, and how she could have handled things differently without taking the blame for everything. As other reviews have mentioned, it did seem like the author tried to put a lot of issues into one story, but at the same time, combined with the flashbacks to the other time periods, they actually worked to explain Grace's situation. Wonderful debut and great cover!

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camchorse's review against another edition

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challenging emotional sad tense medium-paced

2.5

Fran Littlewood's debut book uses a triple timeline format to chronicle what has led Grace Adams to the place of desperation she now finds herself in. Her daughter's 16th birthday has given her a reason to prove that she is still amazing and worthy of love. Unfortunately, despite Grace's best intentions, her journey to help her daughter celebrate her birthday is riddled with a series of unfortunate events.

The timeline jumps back and forth between 2002, four months before now and now. The previous time periods explain how Grace has ended up in her current predicament. I found the frequent jumping back and forth to be a little confusing. I could not always keep the details straight and the some of the situations Grace found herself in seemed to be far fetched.

Readers who enjoyed Where'd You Go, Bernadette? and Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine will likely enjoy this one too. I found myself feeling impatient with the chaos surrounding Grace whether it was warranted or not.

Be sure to check the trigger warnings before reading this one.

Thanks to the Macmillan Audio Influencer Program for an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion!

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lindsaylhunter's review against another edition

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emotional funny sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

The last hundred pages of this book really sealed the deal for me that this is a lovely, emotionally-charged novel. Some of the dialogue does not read well and you can absolutely tell that the teenage dialogue has been written by someone approaching middle age, but still a nice book!

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